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Head Scratching Good Runs and Terrifying Steps Forward

Happy first day of summer. So much sunshine outside and good runs this week have put me in a fantastic mood!

I’ve had Pad Thai on the brain for a month so I gave in on Tuesday and ordered some from this restaurant I like near my house that won’t be near my house when I move in September. The portions are big but I thought I’d get a little side dish too (idiot) and save some pad thai for left overs. And then for whatever reason I ATE ALL THE PAD THAI. As Ron Swanson said I worry you think I said I ate a lot of pad thai. What I said was I ate all the pad thai.

http://radar-net-of-our-senses.tumblr.com/post/22327728651/my-appetite-at-this-very-momentMy stomach was angry face all night and then when I woke up on Wednesday, it was still PO’d to the max. I managed 4 bites of oatmeal and nothing else. The office buys lunch for us on Wednesday and this week was burritos; my very favorite food on the whole of the Earth. And all morning the thought of trying to eat a burrito at lunch made my stomach turn. It also made me think “idiot” over and over. Why did I eat so much for dinner? I ended up going to the Tar-jey for some applesauce and animal crackers because I was a teeny bit hungry and I thought if I didn’t eat I wouldn’t make it through the afternoon. The worst was that I planned to run that night and I didn’t know if I’d be able to. And then, thankfully, I was hungry around 6. I grabbed a left over burrito and did a little more work.

By 7 my stomach was still wonky and all I’d eaten was some applesauce, half a small baby burrito, and some animal crackers. But I figured I have to get out there if I want to run a half marathon in October (foreshadowing). So I laced up and hit the pavement. And then sure enough it was one of the better runs I’ve had in a month. WTF body. I give you mondo indigestion, almost no food, and you pull out a great run. I give up.

24 hours later Christine and I ran 2.56 miles with no walking. Rockstars. At least, that’s how we felt at the end. I mean, yes. It was slow. And not even a 5k. But shove off any haters, it’s better than we’ve been doing! I’d like to recreate the run but quite frankly, I blacked out during the second half, but from what I remember our conversation was mostly:“We have to keep running, no walking”“At some point I feel like the walking isn’t even worth it”“Jennie will be proud”“Maybe we shouldn’t tell Jennie. She’ll make us run straight through from now on”“Maybe we’ll just make her go slower”“When we finish this we’re going to feel amazing”“Am I dead yet? I think I’m dead”“OMG why do bridges arch up so high?!”At some point near the end Christine pointed out the community garden we were running by and offered this helpful thought “let’s focus on the pretty garden” and I grunted out “Ooh, nice.” but in my head I was screaming “Who cares about a f**king garden, there is not enough air in the world to get into my lungs right now”Me: “We’re going to hit 2.5 miles early, do you mind if we just run the full 35 minutes”Christine: “Sure”At mile 2.52 and 35 minutesMe: “Let’s just run all the way back to the dock. It’s only an extra 15 seconds”Christine: “When did you turn into Jennie?”Me: Couldn’t respond. Focused on not falling over.

We then proceeded to limp over to the water fountain. It’s one of those that has a dog fountain near the ground and then a normal human fountain. The human fountain wasn’t working, but the dog one was. We decided that we weren’t above laying on the ground for water but, you know, dogs. For whatever reason I tried the human fountain one more time and…success!! Then we stretched and I somehow managed to find the DIRTIEST spot. Literally. I was covered head to toe in dirt.

What I want to know is this: what is different about this week that my running is going well? Is it the birthday cake I ate mid afternoon before Thursday’s run? I will gladly eat cake and blame it on “needing” it for running.

Gladly. But I don’t really think it’s that. I keep a log and I’ll keep going over it and maybe I’ll figure it out.

Also. I officially registered for the half. I’m scared and excited and nervous and ready to kick it’s ass. Maybe?

"When did you turn into Jennie?" haha! And to answer your question — the difference about this week is that you have many, many weeks and miles in your rearview mirror. You've been doing the work and now it's paying off! (Or maybe it's the cake.)